Why we might disconnect your power

Ever wondered why your power may get disconnected for reasons outside of a storm or local fault? We explain...

If we’ve disconnected your power, please be assured that there’s always a very good reason for doing so.

Maintenance is essential, so we’re always reviewing, repairing and upgrading network infrastructure to ensure power supply reliability and quality. This includes above and below the ground powerlines, green domes, transformers and substations.

As part of this work, we may detect an issue with some of these assets.

A good example of this is vegetation encroachment, such as trees on a customer's property that have grown into powerlines. The trees require cutting back and the powerlines may need repair.

In order to fix a fault, we need to isolate the fault and this can only be done by switching off the power to that section of the network. This protects our crews doing the repairs and reduces the risk of any potential damage to the customer connection. It also ensures the wider stability of the network.

Faults on your property

Sometimes a fault is found to be on the property side of the connection, such as a wiring issue where your house connects to the meter, and therefore is the responsibility of the property owner. When this happens it is the responsibility of the property owner to repair the electrical issue, although we still need to isolate the power.

If we come across an electrical issue with a private asset on your property, then we’re required to disconnect the power until the issue is resolved by you and your licensed electrician and it is safe to re-energise. For example, if you have overhead powerlines and a power pole within your property boundary, these are owned by you and if we detect a fault, we will disconnect the power in order to isolate the fault. It's about putting safety first.

Our crews will attend your property in person to disconnect the power and issue you with a disconnection pack, which explains why we’ve had to de-energise your property, what the issue is, the related equipment or asset that needs attention and what needs to be done.

We will leave one note for you, the customer, and a more detailed technical breakdown for your electrician on an orange ‘temporary disconnection’ tag in an orange bag . The electrician then uses that form to action the repairs and sign off on the repairs for re-energisation, which means we can then turn your power back on.

You will need to find your own qualified electrician.

Once the electrician has done the required repairs, they can call us and quote the related work number. Our technicians will then be dispatched to reconnect the power to your property.

We always aim to reconnect the power as quickly as possible.

If we’re planning maintenance work in your area that requires a planned outage, we will notify you of the date, time and expected outage duration.

More information

Not sure what you own and what Western Power owns?

Find out more about how the grid connects to your home and what you are responsible for.